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TagPro
|founder = Nick Riggs (a.k.a. LuckySpammer) |revenue = |international = Yes |url = |programming language = |website type = Browser game |advertising = Yes |registration = Optional |users = |language = English |launched = |current status = Online }} TagPro is a free-to-play online multiplayer capture the flag video game originally designed and programmed by Nick Riggs. The first version was released in February 2013, after Riggs began experimenting with software platform Node.js. The game is named after one of its three obtainable power-ups. It follows the basic rules of capture the flag, along with some modifications, including power-ups, spikes, and other map elements. Gameplay Players spawn in red and blue teams on opposite sides of a playing field, more commonly referred to as the "map". Each game lasts for 12 minutes. The player controls a ball, and their goal is to transport the enemy's flag from the enemy's spawn area to their own, avoiding enemy players and hazards. In the other main game type, there is a single, neutral flag that both teams attempt to bring to their respective-colored end zones. Other players can "pop" the flag carrier by coming in contact with his ball. Popping a flag carrier restores the flag to its original base, and forces the popped ball to respawn. In the case of the neutral flag game, the flag carrier transfers the flag to the opponent that pops them. Each team comprises up to four players, for a maximum total of eight players per game. Players may obtain power-ups and interact with various stationary elements. The player can get popped by getting touched by an enemy if they are holding the enemy's flag, or by running into a spike or a gate. A player cannot get popped by an enemy if they are not in possession of the enemy's flag, unless the enemy has the TagPro power-up. A team scores a point when they successfully return the enemy's flag to their own flag. A team cannot score while their home flag is not in its base; they must pop the enemy flag carrier before they can capture the enemy's flag. The team first to capture three flags wins the game. If the game time elapses, the team with the most captured flags wins. The players of both teams are awarded a loss if each team has captured the same number of flags by the end of the 12 allotted minutes. Players can also set up groups within the game to play among themselves, and if enough players form a group, they can also change settings as they please (physics, timers, maps, etc.). Elements Games of TagPro take place in arenas called maps. A map is randomly chosen for each game from a selection that is changed approximately once a month. Each map contains various elements that influence gameplay alongside the most basic elements—flags and walls. Speed pads: (colloquially Boosts):''' Commonly called boosts, speed pads speed players up to about three times their normal speed. There are neutral yellow boosts that any team can use, and there are team-based red and blue boosts that can only be used by their respective teams. They reactivate ten seconds after use. '''Spikes: When a player touches a spike, they immediately pop. Team tiles: Each team has team tiles, which are colored tiles. These tiles grant additional acceleration and maximum speed when a player is on their respective team's color. Being on the other team's color has no effect on a player. The effects of the team tiles can stack with the grip power-up (see below) and any boosts. Team tiles have no effect on a player carrying the flag. Gates: TagPro has four differently-colored gates. Two such gates are red and blue. If a player touches a gate of their opposite color, they pop. A player may go through a gate of their own team's color. A third gate is a green gate, which pops players on both teams. The fourth gate, which is gray, has no effect on either team: players can pass through them. Each gate has a default color, which it turns to at the beginning of each game. A gate's default color also influences switch behavior (see below). Switches (colloquially Buttons):''' Switches can be used to control the colors of a gate, as well as set off bombs. If a player steps on a switch and the gate is their team's color, the gate does not change. If the gate is the other team's color, it turns to its default color. If the gate is its default color, it turns to the player's color. Occasionally, two buttons can control a gate. In this situation, if a red ball and a blue ball are button pressers, they will negate each other's effect on the gate. Also, there is no special effect for having two button pressers from the same team. '''Bombs: When a player touches a bomb, or a switch that is connected to a bomb (see above), the bomb detonates and pushes the player (and any other players caught in the blast radius) away from it with a high velocity, similar to a speed pad. They respawn 30 seconds after each use. Portals: Portals are an element that allow for spontaneous teleportation from one point to another instantly. They can be set up to be one-way or two-way, and their spawn times ("cooldowns") can also be set up, depending on the map's logic file. Splats: Purely as a aesthetic to the game, splats are simply the results of players dying on the map. Splats disappear, however, near important tiles (spikes, switches, flags, etc.) so they don't inadvertently block the view of the other essential elements. Endzones: In the neutral flag game mode, there are red and blue checkered tiles that are based in each of the two bases, opposite of each team (blue endzones in red team's spawns, and vice versa). In this game mode, teams try to carry the neutral flag onto their same coloured endzones, and the opposite teams try to defend their base's endzone by stopping the opponents from reaching it. Mars Ball: The Mars Ball is a much larger ball that is only prevalent in a retired game mode (though still playable in a private group), coincidentally named the "Mars Ball" mode. The Mars Ball is uncontrolled, but it can be moved through the in-game physics (bombs, switches, etc.) and players simply pushing it; it moves much slower compared to the players because of its size. Potato: In another game mode that is currently restricted to private groups, the potatoes replace the flags, and while the gameplay is all but similar to the original capture-the-flag mode, the main difference is that holding the potato for too long will explode and kill the player, sending the player back to respawn and the potato to its reset position; the explosion doesn't occur if the potato is scored, or the player holding it dies first. The "timer" can be set up in the private group. Flags: Each game contains two flags, the red flag and the blue flag. The red flag spawns in the red team's spawn, whereas the blue flag spawns in the blue team's spawn. In the neutral flag mode, there is a single yellow flag in the middle of the map for both teams to contest over. Walls: Players cannot move into walls. Some walls are slanted diagonally. Power-ups TagPro has three power-ups, all of which spawn at the beginning of every match and respawn 1 minute after being picked up. They all last for at most 20 seconds. The time a player spends dying and respawning counts towards the powerup's time limit. Each one grants different abilities to the player using it: Rolling bomb: When a player is equipped with this power-up and contacts an enemy, the enemy is pushed away from the player, with little to no effect on the player. After a player with a rolling bomb is touched, the rolling bomb goes away, making it a one-use power-up. Thus, the rolling bomb acts as a sort of second life for the player. If a player is carrying the enemy's flag, has rolling bomb, and is touched by an enemy player, the player will still hold the flag, and must be touched by an enemy player again to get popped. Players can still die with a rolling bomb if they hit a spike or a gate; they respawn with the rolling bomb in that case. Grip (colloquially Juke Juice):''' When a player equips the grip powerup, it increases the acceleration of their ball, and gives the player better and tighter control over their movements and turns. '''TagPro: When a player has a TagPro, they have the ability to pop any enemy player if they collide, regardless of whether or not the opponent is carrying the flag. Unlike the rolling bomb, however, if the player is holding a flag while they have TagPro, and are touched by an enemy player, they will pop (as will the enemy who touched them) and lose the flag. Other aspects Leveling up and flair In TagPro, players' levels are expressed in degrees (°). Players begin the game at 0° and gain degrees by winning games. When a user reaches certain degrees, they unlock a "flair". For example, at 6°, players unlock the "Bacon" flair, which is a picture of a pig. At 314°, players unlock the "Pi" flair, which is the pi symbol (π). Their flair and degrees shows up next to their name while in-game. As players earn degrees, the number of wins it takes to earn an additional degree increases linearly. There are also flairs for other miscellaneous achievements, such as winning community run contests, being a TagPro developer or a "community contributor", donating a certain amount of money, and for one-time special events. Communication During a game players can type messages either privately to their team or to both teams. A popular use of private team messages is to discuss strategy or to alert teammates to the location of the other team's players. Those who take the game more seriously often use VoIP application Mumble to communicate verbally during organised games. Community TagPro has been recognized for its particularly active community, especially on Reddit. Reception TagPro has received mostly positive reviews. Peter Cilento of The Richest gave a mostly positive review, as he listed ten "reasons you need to start playing TagPro", two of which were "you can play with friends or strangers" and "it's addicting". Max Mallory of Indie Game Insider said TagPro "is an amazing game" and complimented the fact that "your basic TagPro arsenal isn’t in-game weapons or player boosts, but your ability to predict the positions of your opponents." Tom Sykes of PC Gamer listed TagPro as one of the games in his "free webgame round-up". He wrote, "TagPro doesn't look like much, and it's a little too ad-heavy for my liking, but there's a tactical, seemingly well balanced online multiplayer game waiting for you behind all that." References External links * Category:Multiplayer games Category:Online games